Sunday, October 15, 2006

October WSMC Races

The weather at the WSMC races this month was the best we’ve had in a long time. It was a gentle 80 degrees, and the wind didn’t start whipping up until late in the day, around 5 PM, and just as we were leaving the track. As a result of all the ideal conditions, most everyone’s lap times were very low. After trying to go up another tooth in the rear end, I backed off on gearing and decided to just rev the bike more. This strategy worked well as I then pulled off a 1:38.5 lap on my little Ducati 650 in my last race. This is the first race I’ve had the Duc back at Willow with the new 65 hp motor, new Bruce Meyers heads and a fresh bottom end. It performed flawlessly. I ended up with 1st place in Vintage Lightweight and 2nd place in Vintage Heavyweight.

The WSMC races always feature a variety of “personalities”. V. Heavy 1st place finisher and custom home builder George Beavers has been piloting a 1980’s Suzuki GS1100 with modern brakes and wheels to the tune of 1:32 lap times. He is obviously smoking me like a salmon in V. Heavy class on that thing. Andy from West Coast GP Cycles related that the bike had dynoed at 136 hp at the wheel. George probably clinched the V. Heavy championship on this bike as of October. Nice Job.

Scott Fabbro, who is always a pleasure to race with […especially since his >100 hp GS1100 broke and since he’s been handicapped by having to race his GS850 street bike], took a 3rd in Vintage Heavyweight. I’ve learned a lot by getting beaten by Scott in the past. I think he was off his game due to girl troubles, as I managed to outbrake him in Fearsome Turn 9, which is peculiar because that’s where his 20 years of experience at Willow Springs usually shines. He’ll probably be back in form next month.

Sean Fader had his V65 Guzzi out at Willow, too. It will probably be the last time it will be out in a long time, as we just found him a 650 Ducati like mine to race at Willow. The Guzzi in underpowered for the classes that are available at Willow. That rascal is about 50 lbs lighter than me, so I’ll be watching my back in 2007.

Warren Spradlin, current V. Light champion, finished 0.3 seconds behind me in V. Light this month. Warren’s been having medical problems with his foot. In fact, he showed me the IV that he was hooked up to between races. He’s set to take the championship in V. Light, so he couldn’t risk missing a race weekend. How’s that for dedication. The medical issues didn’t stop him from dropping 2 seconds off his lap times since August and almost getting past me, too!

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